Petr Yan looked for his second straight victory in the UFC Macau main event on Saturday, taking on surging former flyweight king Deiveson Figueiredo.
Since arriving in the 135lb division, Figueiredo had rattled off three straight wins. Yan, meanwhile, had earned his first victory since 2021 when he defeated Song Yadong earlier this year.
Figueiredo took down Yan in the first 30 seconds of Saturday’s main event and was able to get Yan’s back. Yan did a good job of controlling Figueiredo’s arms and was able to reverse position. Yan maintained control for pretty much the rest of the round.
Yan was starting to take advantage of the reads he made in round two, landing strong leg kicks and strikes upstairs. Figueiredo landed a heavy shot on Yan, which forced Yan to have to respect him a little more. At the end of the second round, Yan landed a beautiful trip on the former Flyweight Champion.
Yan dropped Figueiredo with a sneaky uppercut as Figueiredo went for a level change. Halfway through the third round, this fight was looking like a classic Petr Yan performance. Yan was finding success and began teeing off on Figueiredo, showing why “No Mercy” is his nickname.
The primary shot that Yan was having success with was uppercuts. Figueiredo was trying to bob and weave, but couldn’t get out of the way of the strikes of Yan.
At the end of round four, Yan got sloppy, and “Deus da Guerra” dropped him.
This fight was truly a showcase bout for the UFC Bantamweight division. Yan looked like his old self, while Figueiredo was also in top form. In round five both fighters were barely breathing heavy. They both threw the best weapons out of their arsenal, strikes were exchanged, with Yan getting the better of most exchanges.
Following the amazing fight, the two former Champions jumped on top of the cage, and shared an embrace. It was Petr Yan, however, coming away with the clear unanimous decision win.
Following the fight, Yan called for a rematch with UFC Bantamweight Champion Merab Dvallishvilli. Merab had stated that Figueiredo was the number one contender in the division, so could Petr Yan get the next title shot? Umar Nurmagomedov might have something to say about that.
Official Result: Petr Yan def. Deiveson Figueiredo by Unanimous Decision (50-45, 50-45, 50-45)
